Mariinsky TheatreDon Quixote casting

Anin, what I liked about the Ponomarev/D Quixote was that he was an effective counterpoint to all the divertissements going on in the background, a nice frame, or like a bit of a found object in a cubist painting. Anyway it had a far different effect--more depth--than San Francisco Ballet's version.

And of course, the real Don Quixote is Balanchine's, albeit with the tepid Nabokov (Nicolas, that is) music.

Pasternak's "horseface"--Pasternak called it that--always reminded me of my grandfather's (he was from Mytilene/Lesbos off the Turkish coast), so perhaps I tend to exagerate its reappearance in the world.

The Kirov is performing, as of this writing, in London, Berkeley, and St. Petersburg simultaneously. Two hundred of them (dancers, musicians, techies) are in Berkeley, though some of the stars we were promised are in fact in London, and Cal Performances director Robert Cole had to threaten to cancel altogether to guarantee that headliner Diana Vishneva would not get pulled for the London show.

That's something I did not know. "Kirov" certainly is becoming a world brand. Or should we say "the Kirovs"?

Don Q ballet has absolutely nothing in common with Servantes's novel, and, though,V.Ponomarev(a grandson of his great namesake) is a good Don Q, it's not a dancing part, and ballet is all about dance and, as such, it does matter who's doing Kitri or Basil. As for Georgian faces, Nioradze does have one as she is indeed Georgian as are Nina Ananiashvili,Nikolai Tsiskaridze, as was Vachtang Chabukiani and George Balanchine(Balanchivadze) and Tamara Tumanova who were both half Georgian.Pasternak was Jewish( a convert to Christianity).As far as Nioradze being N.F.in " The Idiot " I ve never thought about that,but it's Nastasia Filipovna.

I am happy to disagree with you that ballet is all about dance. If this was the case story ballets with complex themes of psychological and artistic symbolism and allusion would not exist. Character/dancer/mime artists are integral to19th century academic classical ballet production and the greatest exponents are highly valued by true ballet enthusiasts as opposed to those that want ballet to be an entertainment. I do not know Anin which category you fall into so I cast no personal aspersions. Interestingly the character of Don Quixote in the ballet is with make up and false hair, made to look in a manner not to far away from the Cervantes portrait by Juan de Jauregui y Aguilar with a long face and pointed beard.As regards Cervantes, this is what Wikipedia has to say “The plot is taken from two chapters in Cervantes' novel of the same name. It concerns the unsuccessful attempt by the rich and foppish Gamache (Camacho in Cervantes's novel) to marry the beautiful Kitri (known as Quiteria in the novel), who in turn is in love with Basil (or Basilio), a young barber from her village. Kitri wants to marry Basil, but her father desires that she wed the much older Gamache. Kitri and Basil hatch a plan; he pretends to commit suicide by supposedly stabbing himself at the wedding ceremony. His "dying" wish is that Kitri marry him, thus presumably leaving Gamache free to marry her after Basilio's "death". Of course, after the ceremony is performed, Basil miraculously "revives", and Gamache can do nothing except watch the two lovers happily go off. Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza are only marginally involved in the storyline, although Quixote mistakes Kitri for Dulcinea, and his famous attack on the windmills (from an earlier chapter in the novel) is shoehorned into the main plot.” The history of “Don Quixote” as a ballet began in 1740 and and was first staged in Russia by Charles Didelot, 1808.

1) Don Quixote as a ballet was never intended to tell the full tale of the novel--that was definitely out of the question when Marius Petipa first presented the ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1869. But what it did was still a lot of fun to watch, especially it was from one of the more interesting chapters in the novel, a side story where Quiteria hatches a plot to avoid marrying a much older man she doesn't love.

2) What I find the ballet even MORE interesting was I read online Soviet-era balletomanes LOVED this ballet, probably because it had so many dancers on stage and its very colorful design for both the costumes and scenery design contrasted strongly against the dull, colorless life most Russians had during the Soviet era.

3) This ballet demands the use of a larger stage. I'd love to see either the Mariinsky or Bolshoi companies do a full-scale version at the Kodak Theatre or the new Nokia Theatre at the LA Live venue in Los Angeles.

I was wondering, is Irina Golub dancing? I enjoyed her dancing in a festival that the Kirov and my former employers performed in at the Kennedy Center, during the time that the main Opera house was being renovated, and they actually performed Kingdom of the Shades modified. She was one of the variations. She was beautiful, in a way that makes your heart sing with joy. I hope that she is still dancing, healthy, happy, and successful, in every possible way.

1) Don Quixote as a ballet was never intended to tell the full tale of the novel--that was definitely out of the question when Marius Petipa first presented the ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1869. But what it did was still a lot of fun to watch, especially it was from one of the more interesting chapters in the novel, a side story where Quiteria hatches a plot to avoid marrying a much older man she doesn't love.

2) What I find the ballet even MORE interesting was I read online Soviet-era balletomanes LOVED this ballet, probably because it had so many dancers on stage and its very colorful design for both the costumes and scenery design contrasted strongly against the dull, colorless life most Russians had during the Soviet era.

3) This ballet demands the use of a larger stage. I'd love to see either the Mariinsky or Bolshoi companies do a full-scale version at the Kodak Theatre or the new Nokia Theatre at the LA Live venue in Los Angeles.

In reply to the comments made in Point 1: Did you read what I wrote?

Point 2: I think you underestimate Russian even soviet Russians interest and appreciation of balletic art. You will find it went beyond, “…probably because it had so many dancers on stage and its very colorful design for both the costumes and scenery design contrasted strongly against the dull, colorless life most Russians had during the Soviet era. “

Point 3: No absolutely no. We are talking about an art form. Whilst classical ballets can be entertaining they are not entertainment. Don Quixote was staged in Petipa’s lifetime on the Maryinsky stage in St Petersburg and I have never found it said that he wanted a bigger stage at any time during his life.

I was wondering, is Irina Golub dancing? I enjoyed her dancing in a festival that the Kirov and my former employers performed in at the Kennedy Center, during the time that the main Opera house was being renovated, and they actually performed Kingdom of the Shades modified. She was one of the variations. She was beautiful, in a way that makes your heart sing with joy. I hope that she is still dancing, healthy, happy, and successful, in every possible way.

I agree, pas de deux. Golub is an exquisite dancer with a doll-like face to die for! Since that Kennedy Center run of Shades -- the Int'l Ballet Festival ca 2002/03, which I missed because I was living in Russia at the time -- I've seen Golub triumph as Juliet, Giselle, Gamzatti/Bayadere, the lead in Rubies, in the Forsythe oeuvre, and as Masha in Chemyakin's Nutcracker. In fact, she is the star of the DVD version of the latter, just released a year ago. She was (still is?) coached by Gabriela Komleva, with whom she shared the stage in the premiere of Noah Gelber's version of The Golden Age a couple of years ago. If memory serves, Golub suffered an injury at the time of the April '08 NYC tour, so all of her scheduled appearances were cancelled. However, she was well enough to take part in the recent brief tour to London-Sadler's Wells that took place while the other half of the company was touring the USA...so we did not see her here this time.

Golub was recently promoted to First Soloist, just one level below Principal Ballerina. Just in the past week (late Dec '08) she danced the main pdd in Four Temperaments, as well as Masha in Nutcracker. She is one of several well-known soloists who remained behind in St. Petersburg while a large part of the company performs in Baden-Baden, Germany.

It should be coming any day now, as the casting is normally announced soon after the single tickets go on sale. The Vishneva website is usually accurate, so I would wager some money that DC will NOT be seeing Vishneva, unless some last-minute deals are struck.

Here is my guess as to casting for DON Q. It will be fun to see if I end up being correct or if I bomb:

1. Novikova/Sarafanov (the Mariinsky's Golden Pair in DQ a couple of years ago, when the yet-to-be-released DVD was filmed)

2. Tereshkina/Korsakov (VT is quickly supplanting ON as the Mariisnky's top Kitri, so she may end up getting opening night)

3. Somova/Ivanchenko

I wouldn't be surprised if those three pairings -- or a mix within them -- are all we see in DC, alternating performances.

Obraztsova/Shklyarov would be the most delightful pairing of all but they are presently being ostracized and left out of major tours, for whatever nasty reason, although EO was recently in London (I think), which gives us hope that she will be allowed to come to DC in January.

Wild-Card Kitri: tall, glamorous Anastasia Kolegova is a huge star in Russia & Japan, especially as Kitri; she is one of the recent 'transplants' to the Mariinsky from the Maly Theater

Irma Nioradze made a VERY RARE touring appearance in the recent Ardani Tour of the US. She gets to tour about once every 10 years...so her 'quota' for the decade has been fulfilled. I would be really surprised if she shows up in DC.

Ekaterina Osmolkina used to dance Kitri quite a bit until about 2005/2006. Perhaps she will appear in the Act 4 variation or Dryad Queen?

I fully expect that we will see 'Big Red' Kondaurova as either Street Dancer or Dryad Queen but absolutely not as Kitri.

We might see one of their newest female soloists -- Elena Evseyeva (another Maly Theater transplant) in the A4 variation.

Wild-Card Basils: Igor Kolb...but usually partnering Vishneva and she is not coming, most likely...or Mikahil Lobukhin, who sometimes dances with Tereshkina (including in California, recently)

The Espadas should be either Alexander Sergeev (husband of Pavlenko...wouldn't it be great if she would debut a Kitri in DC?) or new sensation Konstantin Sverev. Ilya Kuznetsov was their greatest Espada until 2006 or so but I don't think he's danced the role in a while. Ditto the fabulous character-dancer Islom Baimuratov, who rarely gets to show-off his Espada outside of Russia.

We SHOULD see the KING of Mariinsky Character Dancer-Actors, Vladimir Ponomaryev, as Don Quixote. He graduated in 1964 and represents the End of an Era. It won't be the Mariinsky Ballet if he ever retires...so let's admire him as long as we can.

Natalia, although the performance has come & gone, I will post some of the soloist billing for the record so we can see how close you came with your guesses:

Just a note that Cyril Beaumont's Book of the Ballets has an elaborate synopsis obviously taken from the St. Petersburg 1871 premiere production of "Don Quixote" with Vergina and Ivanov. It has long, elaborate mime scenes involving Don Quixote and Sancho Panza different from the traditional Kirov production that are taken from Cervantes. When Gorsky redid the ballet in 1900 much of the mime was jettisoned. The version that has come down has a few scenes that are pure Petipa (Don Quixote's dream with the dryads) and many others that are streamlined, realistic Gorsky.

The synopsis in Cyril Beaumont has many scenes that are unfamiliar and hew closely to episodes in Cervantes.